I spent the morning last Friday with a very passionate group of educators at Westside High School here in Bibb county GA. The Macon Chamber of Commerce setup a program that allowed local business people to see how our local schools work, ask questions of the administrators and teachers and hopefully become more involved. While we work with a number of schools system throughout the state, I have never spent any time in our local school system as a community member. Laura Perkins the principle did an incredible job of making me feel welcome at her school. I had been concerned that this would be a dog and pony show, but I was wrong and completely taken back by Ms. Perkins' candor and openness about her school’s successes and needs. While spending a little time with Ms. Perkins when we first arrived we were able to ask questions that were on our minds about the Bibb County education system. And as with many schools, Westside High struggles with test scores and keeping children engaged. Ms. Perkins didn’t pretend to have all of the answers, but did discuss what her school was doing to address their needs. I was then given the chance to tour the school and sit in on a technology class. I will say I was impressed with the facility that Westside has allocated to their technology curriculum. The teacher that was teaching the class I sat in on was very passionate about her students and what they were learning. She told me the biggest issue was not bad kids or lack of facilities, but was the need to be able to show the kids what they could really do with what they were learning. After listening to several presentations on hackers from the students I offered to talk to the students about what we do at Infinity Network Solutions and how what they were learning could be used. I also took the opportunity to try and impress upon the students the things that took me way to long to learn the importance of. I talked about the needs to be able to communicate and specifically being able to articulate your thoughts in conversation with people. I told the students about how being a life long learner was the only way to truly be great at anything. The most important point I made and I hope that at least one person hear, was how important your social network was to your ability to achieve your goals. I will tell you that after seeing Westside High School and it’s students and faculty I have a better appreciation of the education system in my community and challenge anyone reading this post to take any opportunity you may have to learn about your local system and how you can be involved.
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